The South Korean coach, the Portuguese Paulo Bento, confessed this Wednesday that he preferred to avoid facing Portugal in Group H of the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, where he assured that he would “defend” the Asian team in the “best way”. “.
On the eve of his World Cup debut, in what will be his second as coach, after having led Portugal between 2011 and 2014, the 53-year-old coach spoke to the media in Doha about the duel with the Portuguese. , despite being scheduled for December 2 only.
“I will not be immune for sure. I have been Portuguese since I was born and I will be Portuguese until I die. During the game I will be Portuguese, obviously trying to defend the Korean team in the best way.” [do Sul] that I represent”, began Paulo Bento.
The Portuguese coach, who at the service of the ‘quinas’ reached the semifinals of Euro 2012, in Ukraine and Poland, recalled the cases of compatriots Fernando Santos, the current Portuguese coach, and Carlos Queiroz, from Iran, when asked about the Time to face your country.
“There is still some time to talk about this game, but that happens in this type of competition, in which the coaches represent some countries and come from others. It already happened with the current Portuguese coach. [Fernando Santos] to represent Greece, with the [Carlos] Queiroz in Iran and now it’s my turn,” he recalled.
Later he admitted that “he would have liked to avoid” Portugal: “Of course, but you can’t have everything. It’s preparing one game at a time, in a professional and serious way.”
On Thursday, the Koreans will debut in the ‘poule’, against Uruguay, which also has Ghana, and Paulo Bento will set the tone to try to get the best results.
“The idea is to play and compete as well as possible, taking advantage of our qualities and trying to condition the qualities of the rival. I hope tomorrow [quinta-feira] be a balanced match and we will try to do what we know how, to be at a very high level collectively”, he predicted.
The team that Diego Alonso now manages earned praise from Paulo Bento, who highlighted the player who is perhaps in the best shape in the South American team, midfielder Fede Valverde of Real Madrid.
“I think the way Uruguay has made this transition shows what they are worth and what they are as a team. It is not easy to make a transition after 16 years with the same coach [Óscar Tabárez]of whom I have good memories, because he was my coach for a season [Oviedo]🇧🇷 [Valverde] He is a fantastic player, with a very high physical dimension and has a great influence on the way we play [do Uruguai]🇧🇷 He is at the level of Kevin de Bruyne [do Manchester City]They are the best,” he said.
Lastly, he spoke of the biggest ‘star’ of the Asian team, winger Son, from Tottenham’s English team, who recently underwent facial surgery, for which reason he must wear a mask in World Cup matches, an “adaptation that is not create problems”, according to Paulo Bento, although there is “some risk”.
“The adaptation to the mask is not creating any problems. In the last few days she has trained with the group, just as we had planned. morning [quinta-feira] We will see how the game goes, hopefully you can be as comfortable as possible and we will try to use the best possible strategy to make you feel good during the game. He knows and we know, given the injury he has incurred, that there may be some risk,” he explained.
Son underwent surgery on November 4 to correct fractures in four bones in his face, after being injured in the Champions League match against Marseille.
On Thursday, South Korea will face Uruguay starting at 4:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. in Lisbon), at the Education City Stadium, in Al Rayyan.
Source: TSF
